


And Though the Forest is Dark and Deep

by natcat5



Series: Dark Month 2015 [19]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Curses, Gen, dark themes, otgw au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 16:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5055298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natcat5/pseuds/natcat5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama's a little fuzzy on the details, but he's pretty sure this is Hinata's fault.<br/>Also, is that crow talking?</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Though the Forest is Dark and Deep

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be confusing if you haven't watched Over the Garden Wall. I generally try to make AUs like this easy to understand for people who haven't seen the source material, but I wrote this very quickly. ;-_-

“This is your fault,” Kageyama snaps, hands in fists at his side, “Always hopping around everywhere. If it weren’t for you, we’d never have gotten lost!”

Hinata just stares at him, eyes red-rimmed and mouth trembling. The cold and the frost and the endless trees have finally robbed him of his endless, inane chatter. _Finally._

It’s quiet.

Kageyama can turn his head away and close his eyes, rest against the tree and be at peace.

There is no sound. He doesn’t hear Hinata walk away.

Finally, he can rest. Finally, finally.

A leaf brushes against his face. He doesn’t stir.

\--

Kageyama is pretty sure this is Hinata’s fault.

He holds onto that thought, glaring sourly at the other boy bouncing delightedly ahead of him. The bright orange hair is unmistakeable, easy to track in the gnarled branches of brown and russet. There is a jarring lack of colour here, and Hinata stands out vibrantly, like a splash of sunlight in a place conquered by shade.

“Do you think _Lord Feathered Giant of the Twisted Root Forest_ is a good name for a pet crow?” He calls back, “Or is it maybe too long?”

“Focus on finding a town where we can ask directions, not naming your stupid bird,” Kageyama shoots back. Hinata just sticks out his tongue at him before continuing to skip forward, his newly found crow perched on his shoulder.

Kageyama is pretty certain he’s not normally this short, this bitter. This is a version of himself that he’s tried hard to bury. That he’s tried hard to leave behind. This snapping, cruel thing. These unkind, thoughtlessly said words. They are all from a King, a crownless brat that he left in the past. An isolated self that Hinata has helped to pull him away from.

But there is a bitter wind in this forest. There is a cold and a frost that bites at him, makes him shiver uncontrollably. He stumbles over roots that reach for his ankles, and Hinata’s bright, skipping form seems further and further away.

“It’s his fault we got lost like this,” Kageyama tells himself, lips dry and cracked, “If I’m a little mean, it’s just because he’s still not taking this seriously enough. He needs to be more serious.”

Hinata is so bright and bouncy and shining. Why is he still shining? There is no sun in this place.

\--

The clouds grow thicker, and the wind sharper. Snow begins to fall, and Kageyama curses, breath ghosting in the cold air.

Hinata’s eyes widen and he lets out a delighted sound, twirling in the sudden dance of flakes and flurry.

“Like little fairies!” he laughs, catching a few on his tongue, “Oi, Kageyama, do you think the snow here is like everything else? Like the crows that talk and the pumpkins that are people but also skeletons, and the frogs on the boat and the animals that go to school and-,”

“No, dumbass Hinata, snow is just snow,” Kageyama grouses, shaking off the flakes that are already gathering thickly on his hair.

“But maybe they transform into fairies,” Hinata insists, looking upwards and blinking at the snow catching in his eyelashes, “Like a _fwish_ and then a _shizaam_ and then instead of a sky full of snow, you have a sky full of beautiful little people with sparkly wings...”

“You need to get your head out of the clouds,” Kageyama scolds, “We need to find a building or something before it gets any colder.”

Hinata looks at him, hands cupped in front of him, collecting the snow.

“Mhm,” he agrees, “But Kageyama, don’t you think it’s beautiful? Don’t you think it’s really pretty?”

“I think it’s cold, Hinata,” Kageyama insists, “I think it’s really damn cold.”

\--

It wasn’t so cold at the beginning. No, not at first.

The forest was unusual, and Kageyama hadn’t had a good feeling, but it had been _interesting._ It had been…something close to _fun_. There’d been something adventurous, something exciting about clambering over the roots and the branches and underbrush. Finding schools full of strange students and rivers full of strange frogs and birds that talked and girls that turned into monsters and a man with a lantern whose light he could not afford to let go out.

Kageyama, nervous and awkward around people, stuttering his way through situation after situation. And Hinata, bouncing as always, not doing much better with his _Pow!_ and _Wham!_ way of speaking that involved more arm movements than it did words.

But they had moved forward, and found new pathways, only to get lost again. And found new towns, only for no one there to be able to give directions. And found trees, and more trees, and more trees. Twisting and endless and with branches that were cold and rough to touch.

The paths became narrower, and few and far between. The ground harder, hurting their feet as they walked. Hinata bounced a little less. Just a little.

The further they go, the harder it is to remember how they got lost in the first place. But something is telling Kageyama, something is whispering in his ear and _insisting_ that it’s Hinata’s fault.

And seeing the other boy skip in front of him, carefree even as the forest becomes dark and the branches become menacing and escaping becomes hopeless, Kageyama believes it. Believes that this carefree, airheaded boy incapable of keeping his feet on the ground is to blame.

Everything keeps growing colder. Something inside of him is aching.

\--

“If you stop, the forest will take you,” they are told, “If you doubt, the forest will become you.”

Everyone in the forest is crazy. Kageyama wishes Hinata would stop talking to weirdoes. Kageyama, at least, tries to find the most normal looking people when he asks for directions. What ridiculous advice is that? ‘Don’t stop or doubt’. _Tch._

And then he stops and he doubts and he doesn’t hear Hinata walk away for him or feel the tickle of leaves against his nose and branches twisting themselves out of his skin. There are roots anchoring him and it feels more comfortable then being adrift, then being lost. There is something cold and hard inside of him and it feels better than being scared and uncertain.

He’s tired, and he’s glad for sleep.

\--

“I can’t face Oikawa,” Kageyama complains, hands twisting together, “You don’t get it.”

“Sure I do,” Hinata says, “And you definitely can! I believe in you! Look, we’ll go together, head over there and be like, ‘Hey! Grand-King! We’ve got a bone to pick with you!”

Kageyama glares. Hinata is undeterred, beaming.

The endeavor doesn’t quite go as planned. Kageyama panics before they even reach Oikawa, and runs. Hinata runs after him. Kagayama hops a wall he’s never seen before, Hinata clambering after him. Both of them rolling down a hill, into a freezing river.

And then the forest.

And then being lost.

_Whose fault is it, really?_

\--

“He’s gone to make a deal with the Beast of the forest,” says Hinata’s crow, gravely, “He’s done it to save you, though you have condemned yourself of your own volition. Are you really going to lay here and let him die for you?”

There is ice encasing his heart and branches and vines are entangled in his limbs. His eyes are heavy and every movement takes energy he doesn’t have. He misses Hinata’s smile. He misses his warmth and his sunshine. He misses his absurd crow names and he misses his dancing snow fairies and he misses his dauntless, unflappable courage.

Hinata is his friend, and he got him lost. It’s his, Kageyama’s fault. It always has been.

So he hasn’t changed, after all. Still blaming others for his own mistakes.

Hinata dying for him?

“No,” Kageyama says, pulling away from the branches and rising to his feet, “Never.”

\--

The Beast is not so scary, Kageyama thinks. Not when he’s trying so hard to manipulate them. Not when he’s full of talks and tricks and nothing so terrifying as the cold that Kageyama’s been forced to confront within his own heart. It’s easy to see through him, to see the fear in his golden, glowing lantern.

And Hinata is by him again, smile tired but still warm. Kageyama feels like he can banish any darkness. Face any attempt at encasing him in ice.

And when the Beast is gone, and it’s the two of them again, the withered remains of branches and blood-red leaves still clinging to their forms, Kageyama steps forward and hugs Hinata, breathes in that scent of sunshine and optimism and faith. A faith that Kageyama feels he hasn’t done a thing to deserve.

“I’m sorry I got us lost,” he apologizes, “It was my fault, and I’m sorry for blaming you.”

Hinata just grins lopsidedly, knocking their foreheads together gently.

“Dumbass Kageyama,” he teases, forgiving.

“I know the way home,” Kageyama says, “We’ll go together.”

Hinata nods, still smiling, still bright, and takes Kageyama’s hand.

\--

The river is cold, but it’s a cold easily banished, as they climb out of it. It’s snowing a little, and Kageyama’s vision is a bit fuzzy. Hinata is shivering beside him, but he’s okay, he’s alright.

“This is what you get for following me,” Kageyama grumbles, guilt still gnawing at him.

“D-don’t be ridiculous, stupid,” Hinata says, teeth chattering, “I’d follow you anywhere.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I sort of realized this is very vague for curse week. Bear with me here, I'm behind schedule.


End file.
